Nairobi — President William Ruto has called for scalling up initiatives and interventions to counter the nation’s worsened drought and food shortage.
Speaking during the launch of the 2022 Short Rains (October to December) Assessment Report at the State House, he said the response to the situation must be urgent to avert the wide spread distress and suffering.
The head of state said Sh6billion has been set aside in the latest supplementary budget to respond to the drought between February and May.
“We are facing devastating drought that has led to widespread distress and suffering. This crisis is worsening and requires urgent scale up of interventions,” he said.
“The amount will be supplemented by the private sector-led National Steering Committee on Drought Response that has so far raised Sh650 million. However, this may not be enough.”
“More than Sh15.35 billion is required for urgent life-saving interventions. We call on international partners, the private sector and well-wishers to help us bridge this resource gap that will help in building long-term resilience.”
The president went on to identify the priority areas that need urgent response which include enhanced food assistance, cash transfers, health and nutrition interventions.
Other interventions include sustained water supply, livestock feeds, school feeding programmmes and peace and security initiatives.
The Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua also said that to cushion the country against such a disaster in future, the Government has to adopt a long-term measure.
He said irrigation and the ongoing ecological restoration in the country will sustainably help rehabilitate the environment and reverse the effects of climate change.
“We thank the national and international partners for complementing our response efforts, which they have sustained throughout the disaster. We have sustained our efforts to ensure no life is lost through streamlined and coordinated multi-agency interventions,” he said.
“We will continue engaging as we seek short-term and long-term solutions to ensure food and feed sustainability in the face of climate change.”
This pledge follows a report released on Thursdays by the National Drought and Management Authority (NDMA) indicating that about 6 million people in 32 counties are affected by the prolonged drought and acute malnutrition following a fifth consecutive poor rainfall season especially ASALs counties.
According to the report, over 970,000 children aged between six to nine months and 142,000 pregnant women are currently malnourished as the drought and food insecurity situation worsens in the country.
The report also indicated that the situation is likely to worsen further in the next 3 months as the prevailing drought persists with Turkana, Marsabit, Mandera, Wajir and Garissa counties likely to slide into Emergency Phase.
The population in crisis phase and even above could rise to about 5.4 million in ASALs counties alone by June this year depending on the performance of the March to May long rains season.
The report recommends that continued multi-sector response is required in the next six months to counter/halt the looming downturn.
“Scaling up of food and nutrition support and cash transfers, enhancement of mass screening, mapping of areas with high malnutrition burden, and delivery of integrated health and nutrition outreaches,” it recommended.